Which social media platforms do I use for my business?

There is no doubt that social media is an essential marketing tool for any company that wants to stay current and visible. In fact, 88 percent of marketers think social media has enabled them to boost exposure, while 77 percent say it has helped them generate traffic. This implies that if you’re not making use of social media to its maximum potential, you’re passing up a major opportunity.

However, getting started may be challenging, and even seemingly simple tasks like selecting a social network might be more sophisticated than you think. There are several social networks to choose from, and developing a plan might be difficult. However, the fact of the matter is that you may begin by limiting your search to the most prominent and extensively utilised platforms.

There is no simple answer to which social media platforms to use for business. The optimal platform is determined by the aims of your company, as well as the products and services it offers. You should also consider what target group you want to market your brand to, as well as how the network works and how it is effectively used.

Depending on the version and the depth of your interaction, social media marketing might take a significant amount of time. Different social media platforms can be tailored to specific types of information, functions, events, or people groupings. Understanding various platforms is required before selecting which one or more are best for you.

Narrowing the options to a few networks will help you to concentrate your actions and obtain the most impact on your time and effort. So, how do you pick the finest social networking platform for your company? Let’s narrow down the choices:

1) Identify the Target Groups:

Understand your average customer, their age, gender and other socio-economic factors about them. What are their needs and how can your product help them fulfil them efficiently? You need to be as thorough as possible as it will predict future outcomes. Use the responses to these questions to help you create a profile of your core demographic.

2) Define the goals:

Once you’ve identified your target audience, you’ll need to set goals for them. As an entrepreneur, your primary aim will almost certainly be to increase sales by engaging clients; but, there are other innovative goals for social media platforms. While some companies use social media to increase brand awareness and build positive connections with customers, others utilise it for customer assistance.

Netflix, for example, employs the Twitter account @Netflixhelps to address customer care difficulties. It allows happy consumers to promote their business while freeing them up from having to talk to them and wasting their time. When developing your social media objectives, make a list of both common and uncommon ways social media might benefit your company.

3) Decide on the content:

Different sorts of content perform better with different social media platforms, so it’s critical that you thoroughly assess the type of content you want to generate and share that would work best with your business.

Because Instagram is centred on images, it might not be the best place to post long content. The sort of content you publish will be determined by various factors, like your sector, brand, and key demographic.

Options available:

1) Facebook for business:

Facebook for Business: That’s the biggest platform at the moment, with over 2.89 billion users worldwide, with India and the United States leading the way in terms of nation use. Facebook is excellent for customer acquisition, and its advertising network allows for highly tailored targeting of certain populations.

Unless your company caters solely to older adults, Facebook should be a component of your social media plan due to the large number of individuals who use it. You may post videos to Facebook, share blog links, message people who have customer care issues, promote your business, and obtain online evaluations.

Facebook also has strong search engine features. According to Search Engine Watch, over 1.5 billion search results for local companies, services, and goods are conducted on Facebook every day. That equates to almost 40% of all Google searches, which is rather big. Because Facebook is used by a large portion of your target demographic, your firm should have a representation there.

2) Twitter:

Twitter is a wonderful medium for increasing brand recognition. Twitter makes use of the hashtag to arrange discussions around a string of words. You can discover what others are discussing by looking up hashtags, and then structure your tweets to participate in popular topics. Twitter is frequently utilised by news sources to identify articles since it provides insight into what subjects are trending. Many companies mix Twitter with offline interaction, such as events, because Twitter is frequently used to offer real-time information to an audience.

3) YouTube:
Although YouTube has 2.3 billion users, its impact stretches much beyond that figure. To see material on YouTube, you do not need to sign up as a user. As an outcome, YouTube has grown to become one of the most popular search engine networks. A large portion of these queries is for “How To” videos. This platform works effectively for service industry organisations that can provide this sort of content, as well as leisure and instructional videos.

4) Instagram:

Instagram is one of the most rapidly developing platforms, particularly among young people. Instagram, like Pinterest, depends on photographs or videos to spark debate. As a consequence, this platform is ideal for visual enterprises such as art, cuisine, retail, and beauty. Because it is a newer site, it has less noise than Facebook. This implies that the platform can help you generate leads since your reach is greater.

When you have a defined marketing and social media plan, you can utilise social media to promote your brand and expand your market reach. It may also assist you in attracting consumers, gathering client feedback, and developing customer loyalty.

You may require more resources to manage your internet presence, and you risk receiving bad criticism that must be handled. Whatever the dangers, having a social media strategy in place and pre-planning your policies and procedures may help you manage them and reap the benefits.